22 October 2006

When marketers talk about a product or services they typically focus on features, benefits, or both. That is simply not enough. There is a follow up component that I call “outcomes.” Outcomes are what fall outside of benefits, as they most often are not directly promised or measured. Great customer service and superior experience are the most obvious outcomes. Providing subtle gratification for the customer is likely the most powerful one. This is where brand loyalty comes from. It is also where referrals and lifetime value comes from. The more subtle the better, this is simply a matter of congratulating the customer for appreciating the value you and your product provides. The job is NOT over when you the customer pays.

We visited the Shenandoah Valley National Park this weekend. What an awesome place to take in some fall foliage. Aside from an almost overwhelming display of color, what struck me most was the absolute waste of an opportunity. Standing in the lodge/giftshop/food-stop watching people look over the horrible merchandise, badly displayed made me want to scream. Granted I was here at a peak weekend, but still it was a giant opportunity missed.

Bad merchandise, poorly displayed, long lines and marginally competent service all add up to lost revenue. Now I am not suggesting that we whore out our National Park and create a Disneyland or Starbuck experience, but there were a lot of people there looking to spend money. Many suffered through he lines for marginal value, but most decided they could better sped their money elsewhere. The potential revenues from these near geographic monopolies could go towards further pars services. Get innovative or at least catch up! Put some design, business, operations and service skills to work and lower the taxpayer burden of these parks. We need to be proactive to insure their longevity.

We visited the Shenandoah Valley National Park this weekend. What an awesome place to take in some fall foliage. Aside from an almost overwhelming display of color, what struck me most was the absolute waste of an opportunity. Standing in the lodge/giftshop/food-stop watching people look over the horrible merchandise, badly displayed made me want to scream. Granted I was here at a peak weekend, but still it was a giant opportunity missed.

Bad merchandise, poorly displayed, long lines and marginally competent service all add up to lost revenue. Now I am not suggesting that we whore out our National Park and create a Disneyland or Starbuck experience, but there were a lot of people there looking to spend money. Many suffered through he lines for marginal value, but most decided they could better sped their money elsewhere. The potential revenues from these near geographic monopolies could go towards further pars services. Get innovative or at least catch up! Put some design, business, operations and service skills to work and lower the taxpayer burden of these parks. We need to be proactive to insure their longevity.

The recent shift in titling from the design group at the Royal College of Arts, from interaction design to “design interactions” has created some interesting discourse on definitions. The gist of which is, how we define “interaction design” or what exactly does it encompass?

My view is that interaction design is a much broader classification than that taught at Carnegie Mellon for example, where the HCI folks claim interaction with computers and the interaction folks claim the territory of human interaction (presumably through technology devices.)

From the outside these seem more territorial than professional.

In the situational context, of which all designers need be aware, there are users, interfaces (I use this term broadly as well), environments, action and/or goals, and there is that with which the user is to interact. Each of these has an influence. Each pair of these has interdependencies. These influences and interdependencies constitute a broader group of interactions, which must be considered, understood and designed for.

Interaction design is NOT exclusive to the web, computer applications or mobile devices. These are the areas that are currently exploiting a growing knowledge, study and discipline. The early interaction designers where architects, product designers, and interior designers who consider, in their work, the context. They are the pioneers of interaction. We should all broaden our minds a bit beyond our navels.

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I have a passion for innovation and pushing best practices. I believe that design, business, and innovation are endeavors of integrity that should be leveraged.
I am a designer. I've also been a brand marketer, researcher, strategist, and an entrepreneur. I live and work in the rocky mountains. I like solving problems and helping companies exploit market opportunity.
My time is often spent working to better understand customers, context, activities, the market, and technologies, pretty much in that order.